A Chance To Change
by reginassthief
Summary: Based on Final Episode. Spoilers if you haven't watched it. "We steal from the rich to give to the poor", origins to how that happened. Outlaw Queen. Wish Realm.


**Hungover with a strained ligament and I wrote this. Episode Final spoilers (sort of) for anyone who hasn't watched it yet. Based on 'We steal from the rich to give to the poor' line and yeah, hope you like it :)**

When he first mentions it, she's taken back to Isaac's alternative universe, when she was a bandit running from Snow White and she and Robin were rivals. She still has her memories of that life, could still fire an arrow if she thought long and hard about it (not that she needs to, she has magic to do most of the work in this version) and she almost says yes, indulges in that brief fantasy of the two of them robbing the rich and giving to the poor.

But that's the problem.

There would be no giving to the poor.

There wouldn't even be robbing from the rich.

It'd be robbing from anyone; rich or poor, needy or greedy. It wouldn't matter. What would matter is that they were better off.

So she declines at first, tells him that she'll wait here for him, that way she can stay safe and away from her son's hunt for her (which her other half kindly forgot to mention) and that hurts. Hurts to know that Henry is hunting for her, will kill her at the first chance he gets for a murder she didn't _technically_ commit (Snow and Charming are alive in the real world, they're not real here, but then, with that logic, neither is she or Robin) especially when she remembers _Love from Henry_ , but she pushes that thought aside, tells herself that Henry, the _real_ Henry does love her- this dark doppelganger isn't real, and stays in this bubble of safety and happiness.

But it's as she turns around that she remembers a Robin from another life tell her how it was Marian who turned him around, how had Regina walked into that bar when Tinkerbell told her too, she'd have met a completely different Robin. _This_ Robin, and this Robin has never met Marian, just as the first Robin hadn't when she stood outside that door. And had she walked into the bar and met Robin as it was prophesied, she would've been the one to change him. She wasn't dark then, not fully, she didn't want to be, she'd still have a chance. They both would.

And this could be her chance to get her Robin back.

"Actually," she says, catching his attention and making him turn around. "Can I take you somewhere first?"

She watches him ponder it, weighing up if he has enough time, but he's nodding, saying _Go ahead_ , and she's waving her hands, engulfing the two of them in purple smoke.

..:..:...

It's disorintating magic. It twists you up, spinning you, then you hit the floor, not necessarily hard but with a bit of force, and left dizzy, trying to get your bearings.

Once they're back, he's able to take in their surroundings. Woodland. With a few huts and a half broken well. Why is he here again?

He looks towards Regina, finds her staring at one of the houses, waiting for something, and not looking like she's going to give him an answer to why they're here yet, so he looks around, finds they're not that far away from the castle, it's towers still looming way over the trees.

The sound of twigs snapping, feet scurrying across leaves, has him turning his attention back to the gathering of huts, and a woman, small in stature, clothes hanging off her, carrying a bucket over to the well.

He watches the scene, shuffles his weight from one foot to the other. The woman lowers the bucket into the well, the light splash of it landing, before pulling it back up.

You'd normally see it. The water up to the rim of the bucket, just a few millimetres from overflowing. But this bucket isn't like that. From the look on the woman's face, Robin knows it isn't even halfway. But she takes what she has, and staggers off back to her hut.

He knows what he's just saw, but he can't understand what that's got to do with him.

It seems, though, he doesn't need to ask. Regina answering his unasked question.

"You're probably wondering why you're here, aren't you?" She doesn't wait for his reply. "These are the people you're stealing from, Robin."

He resists the urge to roll his eyes, instead opts to bite his lip, gaze looking back towards the well.

"These people barely have anything," she says. "And you're taking what little they have."

He should've known. Should've known from the moment they landed on this shit fest what this was all about. No, this isn't about taking from the needy, being selfish. It's deeper than that. Deeper for her. This is about him being _him._

"If this is about me being the other Robin, Regina," he cuts in, unable to keep quiet on the subject any longer. "I've already heard it from Regina. The other Regina."

God, it was all so confusing. The other Robin. The other Regina. Why couldn't there just be one Robin and one Regina. Why couldn't she just leave the past in the past, where it belongs, instead of trying to ignore what happened, and accept that this is how he is.

"It's not about that at all." she says and he scoffs, of course it is. "It really isn't. It's about _this_..." She gestures to the village in front of them and Robin's eyes traitorously look towards it. "It's about seeing that it's not all about you."

He's too stubborn to outwardly admit she's right. But seeing that woman, and that look in her eyes, the disappointment to find there isn't enough water, will never be enough water, it pulled something inside him, has his heart carving in, giving way to even a little bit of guilt. He's robbed villages like this, no care in the world, it was all about him. Me, myself, and I.

"So what?" he says, looking back towards her. "You want me to rob from the rich to give to the poor?"

"Yes!" her answer is instant. "That's exactly what I want."

"And this has nothing to do with the other Robin?"

"It's to do with _us_." she says, turning her body towards him. She reaches for his hand, her gaze looking down at their fingers entwined. "You don't know this, Robin, but in that...other world, it was Marian who changed you, but had I walked through that door, that would've been up to me. The timing is different but the scenario is the same." She looks him in the eyes then and for the first time Robin stops believing that this is all to fulfil a lost chance. "Just try it. For me. Just trying doing some good in the world and maybe one day I'll join you."

He ponders it. Thinks it over in his brain. Rob from the greedy and give to the needy, not a bad concept. So for her, he'll try it.

...:..:..

She's half asleep when he gets home. His _Hey_ bringing her fully out of sleep as she rolls and stretches, offering her own greeting as her eyes open.

"How was it?" she asks, snuggling down into the blankets.

"Alright, actually." he answers, pulling off parts of his clothes and climbing into the bed with her. She rolls out of the way before shifting and resting her head against his chest. His fingers come to play in her hair as he tells her about the rest of his night.

"I think I might have a new enemy, though."

She frowns at that, and sighs. "Who?" she asks, yet she knows who is it.

"He calls himself the Sheriff of Nottingham."

She smiles against his chest. "And?"

"And he's a twat," he says. "Tried to accuse me doing no good." But that isn't what she was getting at.

"Not him. How do you feel?"

"Oh." he says and she doesn't need to see his expression to know he's smirking. "Good. Really good. Even got myself a group of men once they saw what I was doing."

"Oh really?" Regina asks, her own smile forming. She knows where this is going.

"Yeah. Perhaps I should come up with a name for them." And it seems he knows where this is going, too. "What should I call them?"

"Hmm..." she pretends to think long and hard, though it's clear to the both of them exactly the name she's going to suggest. "I think...The Merry Men."

He pretends to ponder it, but she knows he already likes it. "The Merry Men...not bad."

And there conversation finishes there. Regina lets sleep reclaim her fully and she slips away with the feel of Robin's hand in her hair, knowing she can finally be happy.


End file.
